


The Lost Ones

by phantomthief_fee



Series: BATIM Drabbles [10]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Body Horror, I have a lot of feelings about these poor people, they deserve better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-05-03 05:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14562228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: Stories about the Lost Ones of Joey Drew Studios.





	1. Chapter 1

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: If you're taking requests right now, could you write about what daily life is like for The Lost Ones? (The searcher like things from chapter 4 that don't attack)**

Oh, I am on board for this.

* * *

Their lives weren’t too bad, all things considering. If you could call being holed up in the basement of a decrepit cartoon studio a life. They mostly stayed in their own little room, taking care of one another and comforting those who were having a panic attack that day. Someone had a panic attack every day. That was just how it went. Once they had their memories back, they had the mental capacity to understand just how bleak their situation was and lamented it. At least, they’d lamented at first. But they’d been down there for years now. Now, if they lamented, it was just wordless sobbing. They were so tired. They all just wanted to go home. 

Sammy used to be around to help them. He took care of them. Even in his addled and insane state, he wanted to keep them safe. He promised that Bendy would set them free. After all, Bendy had the power to destroy them, so he certainly must have the power to set them free from their inky forms. But he left one day and never came back. They knew Bendy had gotten him. Some of them still believed Sammy’s prophecies, but for many, his disappearance as the last straw. They fell into a deep depression that they would never escape from. 

But most of them were alright, sort of. They milled around, kept to themselves. Sometimes they snuck into the theme park area and played some of the games, but it did little to ease their melancholy. They just had to keep going. If they kept going, they’d be alright. At least, that was what they kept telling themselves. Someone would come eventually. Someone would set them free. They just had to believe. 


	2. Chapter 2

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT WAS WONDERFUL! If I could ask for another one, The Lost Ones seeing Henry walk into their room?**

I love these lost little babies. I want them to be happy.

* * *

As soon as they saw the man, they knew he was one of them. He had ink all over his body, and it looked as though parts of him had been lost to the ink. There was something so familiar about him, although many of them couldn’t place him.

“Henry?” One of them stepped forward, luminous eyes widening. 

“Good god.” The man whispered. A murmur ran through the group. 

“Henry?”

“Is it really him?” 

“What’s he doing back here?”

None of them had thought they’d ever see Henry again. Especially after the way he’d stormed off 30 years ago. He and Joey hadn’t exactly left on the best of terms. There was nothing left for him there. Well, apparently there was since he was back. 

“What are you doing here?” They asked.

“Joey sent me a letter,” Henry said. “He said he had something to show me.”

“He said the same thing to many of us.” They looked between one another. This caused a fresh round of crying amongst those of them who were still having a difficult time.

“How did all of this happen?” Henry asked. “What happened to all of you?”

“Joey did this with that machine of his. He did this to us.” 

“I’m…I’m so sorry.”

“You left us and Joey went crazy.” One in the corner whimpered. “Why did you leave, Henry?”

“Don’t blame him. It’s not his fault!”

“No. This…This is my fault.” Henry’s breathing grew ragged. “I’m sorry. I just…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. You’ll be one of us, soon enough.”


	3. Chapter 3

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Fuck it I have more, these guys are my new obsession, and slow transformations are the BEST. Henry slowly becoming one of The Lost Ones, with them comforting him through the process (I imagine having your body slowly melt away is nauseating at the VERY least)**

Henry had fully intended to move on after meeting the Lost Ones. He had to find Boris, after all. But he only made it to the vent before his legs melted out from under him. 

“What the- What’s going on?” Henry sputtered, flailing wildly as he tried to get to his feet. The Lost Ones crowded around him, all displaying looks of sympathy. 

“What’s happening to me?” Henry asked, starting to cry. 

“We said you’d become one of us.” They said. Henry had experienced this sort of thing ever since he’d fallen into the ink after running from Bendy. His arms had practically dissolved after he’d woken up from the elevator crash. It had certainly made it difficult to work the gears and valves. 

“Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.” They assured Henry. “We survived it, and you can too.”

“I don’t…I don’t want to change.” Henry sobbed. He’d been through so much. He didn’t want this to happen to him as well. He just wanted to go home at this point. He wanted to get out of there. 

“None of us did.” One of them sat down, pulling Henry into their lap. They stroked his hair as he cried into their ink. 

He cried for a long time, becoming even more horrified when he saw that he was crying ink. He went through a brief stage of anger and denial, screaming and beating at the Lost Ones. They took this surprisingly well, just standing there and taking it. They were used to this behavior. They’d all been through it themselves as the ink had taken them over. 

“You’ll be alright.” They kept telling him. As the ink progressed, he began to grow nauseous, throwing up almost hourly in the corner. The feeling of your bones dissolving was terrifying.

“You all went through this?” He asked as he wiped ink away from his mouth. 

“Every single one of us.” They nodded, glancing at one another. 

“Granted, it’s different for everyone, but most experiences are the same.” Another added. Henry nodded and collapsed to the floor, completely spent. 

It took agonizingly long for the transformation to complete itself. Each day was filled with sobbing, an expulsion of ink, and the constant reminder that he wasn’t going to get out of here the same person he went in. Finally, days later, it was over. He looked the same as any other Lost One.

“See? That’s wasn’t so bad.” They said. Henry just nodded numbly. Boris was probably long dead now. He’d failed to save the one person who mattered most to him in this damn studio. 

“You’ll be alright.” They assured him, some of them holding him close. “We’re here for you. We’re all here for each other.”


	4. Chapter 4

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Okay okay PROBABLY the last one. Henry leading The Lost Ones to the surface, and them seeing colors and the sky again for the first time.**

None of the Lost Ones had ever expected they’d see the outside of the studio again. They’d hoped, of course, but hope could only get you so far in a demonic cartoon studio. Sammy had promised someone would set them free, but some of them had lost hope they’d ever escape. But now they were getting out. Henry was taking them all out of the studio. He’d defeated Bendy and he was setting them free. 

“Come along, my little lambs.” Sammy beckoned to them as they reached the door that led to the Outside. “You have nothing to fear.” Many of the Lost Ones had frozen just short of the doorway. They’d spent so long down in the bowels of the studio. What if they didn’t know how to re-acclimate to society? Not to mention, they weren’t human anymore. 

“It’ll be alright.” Henry smiled reassuringly at them. “I’m here for you.” Just as they had been there for him, so now would he be here for them. The Lost Ones hesitated but followed Henry and Sammy out nonetheless. They all blinked owlishly in the sunshine.

“It’s so bright!” 

“Grass! I haven’t seen grass in ages!”

“Everything’s so colorful!”

Sammy and Henry watched tenderly as the Lost Ones spread out, looking at anything and everything. 

“They’re so happy,” Henry said. 

“It’s been 30 years since we saw the outside world.” Sammy pointed out. “You set us free.”

“I didn’t do all that much.” Henry shook his head. If anything, he felt responsible for all this. If he hadn’t left, maybe Joey wouldn’t have gone off the deep end. But no one, save “Alice”, seemed to hold it against him. All the Lost Ones had been so kind to him. As had Sammy, once he’d recovered from his bout of insanity.

“Now, don’t be modest.” Sammy slapped his back. “You defeated the demon. You brought us out of the studio. You set us free.” 

“Mr. Henry?” One of the Lost Ones came up to him, holding a bunch of messily plucked flowers. “These are for you.”

“For me?” His eyes widened. “Oh, um, thank you.” The Lost One almost seemed to blush before hurrying off to join their friends. 

“I told you,” Sammy said, removing his mask. “You set us free.”


	5. Chapter 5

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Okay last one, The Lost Ones interactions with other ink monsters, particularly regular searchers. I imagine they wouldn't be attacked my the non-sentient ones.**

Sometimes the Lost Ones visited their Searcher brethren on the upper levels. There were more of them on the upper levels. Searchers didn’t venture down to level S for some reason. Sometimes the Lost Ones would play music for the Searchers, under Sammy’s guidance, of course. Most of them were former animators so they didn’t have a lot of musical experience, but Sammy was teaching them. 

“You’re getting better.” He’d tell them as they desperately tried to make something that even remotely resembled music. The Searchers never seemed to mind how terrible the Lost Ones were when it came to music. They just seemed happy to have the company. One Lost One, a girl who’d worked in the music department, always spent time with Jack when they went to the music department. She’d been rather sweet on him. Seeing him like this broke her heart, but she spent time with him anyway. Sometimes she’d sing the songs he’d written. Occasionally, Sammy would help accompany her on piano or banjo to make the songs really come alive. It only made her feel worse, though. It wasn’t Jack. Not really. 

As for the other ink creatures…The Projectionist attacked pretty much everyone on sight, so they just stayed away from him. They avoided Alice like the plague because she was batshit crazy. And Bendy…The Lost Ones weren’t sure how to feel about Bendy. Sammy said he’d set them free, but they weren’t sure if that was really true. For the most part, they stayed out of his way. If they stayed away, they could avoid his wrath. They just wanted to stay alive. Surely someone would come to save them. 


	6. Chapter 6

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Henry adjusting to living as a lost one?**

These might dip in quality since you sent so many, but I’ll do my best. Also, it’s nearly midnight.

* * *

Life as a Lost One wasn’t too bad, Henry found. He still had all his faculties, he still resembled a human, and as long as he stayed away from Bertrum and the Butcher gang he was in no danger. Although, it wasn’t all easy. He was constantly reminded of what he wasn’t. Every time he looked in a reflective surface or even just down at himself, he saw ink. He was a creature of the ink now and he probably would be forever. Not to mention, the others seemed to have adopted him as their leader. With Sammy gone, they needed someone to lead them. 

“But why me?” Henry asked. 

“You _are_  our superior.” They said. “We all worked for you, remember?”

“That’s true, but I quit the studio years ago,” Henry said. He had a strong urge to run a hand through his hair, although that wasn’t really possible anymore.

“You’ll always be our boss.” They insisted. 

“You really don’t need to consider me that.”

“Please, we need you.” They begged. “We need someone to lead us.” Henry could tell they couldn’t do this on their own. He looked around at the sea of faces, all of them looking at him as though he was their savior. He didn’t know how to be anyone’s savior. 

“I don’t know how to lead anyone.” He said. “I’m just an animator.”

“You came back when no one else did.” One stepped forward and took his hands in theirs. They smiled or at least did their best. 

“What about Sammy?” Henry asked. 

“He’s not coming back, is he?” They responded. “You heard him die.”

“Besides…None of us can put our faith in Bendy.” Another added. “Not after knowing he killed Sammy.” There was a murmur of agreement as the Lost Ones looked at one another and nodded. Henry swallowed and nodded. He didn’t know if he could do this.

As time progressed, though, he found that leading the Lost Ones was easier than he’d thought. It was mostly a democracy. They all took care of each other and pitched in to keep one another sane. They just needed a figurehead to keep them together and keep morale high. Or, as high as it could reasonably go. Henry found himself embracing his new role. He couldn’t bring his humanity back, but he could help these people. And he would. 


End file.
